n monument" to suggest her former beauty and her later ugliness (Faulkner 119-130). Her lover for a brief time, Homer, described himself as a man who cannot be tied down and is always on the move. This leaves Miss Emily in a terrible position. As the story comes to a close, Emily seems to prove Homer wrong. Miss Emily poisons poor old Homer. After killing him she puts him in one of the upstairs bedrooms. When Miss Emily dies the townspeople, who were anxious to see what was in miss Emily's house found a real nice surprise when they went snooping around in her house. They found the dead body of poor Homer lying on the bed in one of the bedrooms. The town ladies continue to show sympathy towards Emily, although she never hears of it verbally. She is well aware of the distant whispers that begin when her presence is near. Some of the major contributing factors to Emily's behavior are gossip and whisper. These may have been the causes for her behavior. The theme of Faulkner's story is simple. Miss Emily cannot accept the fact that times are changing and society is growing and changing with the times. As times change, she isolates herself from the rest of the town, using her butler to run her errands so she does not have to talk much. The setting of the story is very important because it defines Miss Emily's tight grasp on the old southern ways and unchanging behavior. Just as the house seems to reject progress and updating, so does Miss Emily, until both of them become decaying symbols of their dying generation. Through descriptions of the house and the resemblance of the descriptions of Miss Emily, "A Rose for Emily" emphasizes that beauty and elegance can become distorted through negligence and a lack of love and affection. As the house deteriorates for forty years until it becomes ugly and unappealing, Miss Emily's physical appearance and emotional well-being decays in the same way (Faulkner 119-130).The southern culture...
